#511 - Dr. Michael Gao and Dr. Joshua Geleris, Founders at SmarterDx
07/16/2025
Episode details
Join us on the latest episode, hosted by Jared S. Taylor!
Our Guests: Dr. Michael Gao and Dr. Joshua Geleris, Founders at SmarterDx.
What you’ll get out of this episode:
- SmarterDx helps hospitals fully capture patient journeys and maximize reimbursement through advanced AI technology.
- The founders, Dr. Michael Gao and Dr. Joshua Geleris, leveraged their backgrounds in medicine and data science to address inefficiencies in hospital revenue cycles.
- A critical pivot from concurrent to pre-bill review allowed SmarterDx to prove measurable value to hospitals and align incentives.
- The formation of Smarter Technologies, combining SmarterDx, Thoughtful AI, and Access Healthcare, creates a platform approach to solve broader revenue cycle challenges.
- A customer-centric mindset and deep healthcare expertise are central to SmarterDx’s and Smarter Technologies’ approach.
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SmarterDx: Simplifying Hospital Revenue Cycles with AI
Hospitals across the U.S. face an ongoing challenge: how to accurately capture the patient journey and ensure they’re fully reimbursed for the care provided. Dr. Michael Gao and Dr. Joshua Geleris, both physicians with strong backgrounds in data science, founded SmarterDx to address these pain points using AI-powered revenue cycle management for hospitals.
At its core, SmarterDx ingests underlying clinical data—labs, medications, orders, and vitals—to create a more accurate representation of what happened to the patient during their hospital stay. This allows hospitals not only to improve their revenue metrics but also to enhance quality metrics. By bringing advanced technology to bear, SmarterDx helps hospitals move beyond outdated, manual workflows to a more efficient, data-driven approach.
Founders’ Journey: From Residency to Revenue Cycle Innovation
Dr. Gao and Dr. Geleris met during their internal medicine residency at NewYork-Presbyterian, where their shared interests in data science and healthcare transformation led them to work together on applied AI projects. The company’s origins trace back to Dr. Gao identifying millions in untapped revenue for a health system through simple Python scripts, leading to deeper discussions about building a more sophisticated solution.
Their journey wasn’t without challenges. The initial launch was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but a successful pilot in late 2021 validated the technology—helping a hospital uncover tens of millions in additional revenue. This success led to rapid growth and venture backing, propelling SmarterDx forward.
A Pivotal Shift: Moving to Pre-Bill Review
One of the most critical moments in SmarterDx’s growth was pivoting from concurrent to pre-bill review. Initially, the platform aimed to help clinical documentation improvement (CDI) specialists work more efficiently during patient care. However, hospitals wanted clear, provable value—something only possible by analyzing charts after all CDI work was complete, but before billing. This allowed SmarterDx to directly demonstrate its impact, unlocking rapid adoption and aligning its success with hospital revenue outcomes.
From SmarterDx to Smarter Technologies: Building a Platform
In 2024, SmarterDx joined forces with Thoughtful AI and Access Healthcare under the Smarter Technologies umbrella, backed by New Mountain Capital. This consolidation brings together best-in-class workflows, deep domain expertise, and the latest AI advancements. The unified platform addresses broader hospital needs, from utilization management to denials, while maintaining a focus on aligning incentives with providers and solving real-world challenges.
A key differentiator is Smarter Technologies’ commitment to combining state-of-the-art technology with true healthcare expertise—enabling hospitals, which often operate on slim margins, to better serve their missions.
Looking Ahead: AI and the Future of Hospital Revenue Cycle
According to Dr. Geleris and Dr. Gao, what sets SmarterDx and Smarter Technologies apart isn’t just innovative technology, but a relentless focus on understanding customer needs and building solutions that truly solve health system problems. By aligning their own incentives with those of their hospital partners, they’ve built a foundation for sustainable success in a complex and evolving industry.
